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Just to get it out of the way, the last team that won the Stanley Cup and missed the playoffs the following season was the Carolina Hurricanes, who triumphed in 2006 but couldn't crash the postseason party in 2007. That bit of NHL history is becoming increasingly relevant for the Kings, whose lifeless 4-0 loss to the Capitals on Tuesday at the Verizon Center dropped them further out of contention for a playoff spot and made their repeat hopes a distant dream. They mustered little resistance in losing for the sixth time in seven games and ninth in their last 11. They never pressured goaltender Braden Holtby and were outshot, 3-0, on their power play in the second period with the game...

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Just to get it out of the way, the last team that won the Stanley Cup and missed the playoffs the following season was the Carolina Hurricanes, who triumphed in 2006 but couldn't crash the postseason party in 2007.
That bit of NHL history is becoming...

Shaved, shorn and suavely suited, Kings players and staffers gathered onstage in the White House East room Monday and smiled politely as President Obama joked how unfortunate it was that they had defeated his hometown Chicago Blackhawks on the way to...

What do the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers have in common?
The three teams are in the "Connor McDavid Derby," the right to pick No. 1 in June's entry draft, with the chance to bring a generational-type talent into the...

The first half of the season for the Kings -- they are 41 games in – ended with a decided thud on Thursday at Staples Center. A few takeaways from yet another inconsistent performance.
Doghouse, expanded
This time, it was defenseman Jake Muzzin’s...

Mike Richards played a season-low 9 minutes 7 seconds against the New York Rangers, including a mere two shifts in the third period, on Thursday.
And it appeared that Richards might end up being a healthy scratch for the first time in his career, based...

Once a small tournament considered a diversion during the Christmas and New Year's holidays, the World Junior Championship has become an obsession in hockey-obsessed Canada.
According to the National Post newspaper, nearly a half-million people tuned...

The team that fearlessly won three Game 7s on the road en route to claiming the Stanley Cup last spring has forgotten how to win away games, forgotten how to use its size and strength and brawn to dominate around the net and consistently get into position...

What we learned from the Kings’ 5-4 loss at Dallas on Saturday:
We learned that they’re not winning on the road
Duh ... they’re 1-4-3 away from Staples Center. Their only road victory was a 3-1 decision at Dallas on Nov. 4. Pretty obvious that they’re...

Tanner Pearson's season has been a wild adventure.
He went from winning the NHL's rookie of the month honor in October to being stapled to the Kings' bench by Coach Darryl Sutter in November when his scoring touch vanished. Sutter could have scratched...

Trying to capture the spirit of the thing after the Blackhawks' 5-2 loss Monday to the Kings in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals:
✓The Hawks' power play hasn’t scored in the last seven road playoff games -- not since the first game of the first...

The NHL reduced its suspension of New York Rangers forward Daniel Carcillo from 10 games to six for Carcillo's actions toward an on-ice official May 23. Carcillo has sat out three playoff games and will be eligible to return in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup...

LOS ANGELES -- Justin Williams' flair for the dramatic allowed the Los Angeles Kings to prevail in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Williams scored 4:36 into overtime, lifting the Kings to a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers before a sellout crowd of...

The face of Hollywood's hockey revolution looks like a closed fist.
The most powerful voice of Tinseltown's growing hockey chorus is an undiscernible mumble.
The biggest name on the Southland's coolest sports powerhouse is one that many people around...

This was must-see, priceless video — defenseman Drew Doughty pounded the glass and toppled over the bench after the Kings won Game 7 in overtime in Chicago, completing an epic Western Conference final series.
His gleeful inner 8-year-old emerged and...

The Kings became the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final by winning three series in Game 7, all on the road. That journey included coming back from a 3-0 series deficit to the San Jose Sharks in Round 1, rebounding from a 3-2 deficit in Round 2...

NEW YORK -- The Los Angeles Kings are one win away from capturing the Stanley Cup for the second time in three seasons.
Los Angeles turned back the New York Rangers 3-0 in Game 3 on Monday, taking a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is...

Free of the quicksand they had to slog through during the second round against the Wild, the Blackhawks had room to roam against the Kings in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals — and they used it.
The Hawks re-engaged their speed game, recovered...

The Kings thought they were playing in the Western Conference finals.
But it appears they spent the last two games finding out they’re spectators at the Patrick Kane Invitational.
Kane managed just one point in the first four games of this series, a...

The math is fairly simple for the Kings coming out of the NHL's three-week Olympic break.
Beginning with Wednesday's game in Colorado, they will close the regular season with 23 games in 46 days. Win more than half of them, and they'll finish with at...

Among the many ways the Blackhawks pantsed the Kings in the first two games of the Western Conference finals, this might be the most amazing stat that blew up supposedly impenetrable goalie Jonathan Quick:
Three times the Hawks scored two goals in a...